Toy toaster



J. WORQN TOY TOASTER Aug. 29, 1961 Filed April 7, 1960 FIG. 2.

INVENTOR JOSEPH WORON United States Patent 2,997,807 TOY TOASTER Joseph Woron, 2813 Asbury Ave., Cornwells Heights, Pa. Filed Apr. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 20,592 1 Claim. (Cl. 46-14) This invention relates to toys having amusement and educational value for children.

More particularly, the invention is directed to childrens play devices simulating an automatic toaster of the type which ejects the toasted bread.

In that connection, one of the objects of the invention to to provide a simple and practical construction which lends itself to standard manufacturing and assembling procedures, thereby enabling the same to be economically made and, therefore, come within reasonable marketable range for items of this class.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a toy toaster including a rack for the toy slices of bread, and which rack may be readily made by stamping procedures to be readily slidably mounted on an upright post carried by a platform arranged within the toy casing. This post has a coil spring surrounding the same so that when the rack is pushed downwardly, energy will be stored in said spring to ultimately counteract, after a brief time interval, the holding effect of suitable restraining means such for example, as a vacuum cup or a tacky substance.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the toy toaster with a portion of the outer casing broken away.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation with the cover removed.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, it will be observed that the toy comprises a base 1 which may be conveniently made by any conventional stamping or molding methods, and a cover or casing 2 having side and end walls and a top wall provided with simulated toast receiving slots. The lower edge portion of the cover rests as at 3 in a marginal recess 4 formed between the edge of a platform 5 and the side walls of the base 1. In other Words, the platform 5 is of less dimensions than the top surface of the base 1, and can be separately handled to add additional elements and then afiixedto the base by a suitable fastening means. For example, the platform 5 may be provided with a vertically disposed post 6 located near one of its short ends and a coil spring 7 placed thereon. Then, a pre-formed rack can be assembled on the post and rest on the spring.

This rack, designated generally as R, includes a body 8 provided with toast supporting portions 9, beneath the slats in the top wall and a guide bracket at one end thereof. This bracket includes a portion at right angles to the plane of the body to form an end wall 10 while the upper portion 11 of the end wall 10 is bent inwardly to form an arm extending over the body, substantially paral- 2,997,807 Patented Aug. 29, 1961 lel thereto. The body of the rack within the area of the bracket has an opening 8 and the arm 11 has an opening 11 which register to fit over the post 6 after the spring 7 has been placed thereon.

The end wall 10 of the rack R is provided on its outer face with a laterally offset handle or finger operating member 12. This member may be formed integrally from the wall 10 or separately, and fastened thereto by soldering or otherwise. This handle 12 is intended to operate in a slot 13 in one related end wall 14 of the casing 2. The slot not only guides the handle 12 in its vertical movement on the post, but also tends to prevent rotative movement of the rack R relative to the post. In other words, by the simple act of assembling the cover 2 over the rack While inserting handle 12 and slot 13 stabilizes the operation of the rack in a lateral or horizontal direction.

The underside of the rack is provided with suitable temporary restraining means which cooperate with the upper surface of the platform 5 to hold the rack down for a brief time interval.

In the assembly shown, a vacuum cup 14 is secured to the underside of the rack 8 so that when said rack is pushed down by the handle 12, spring 7 will be compressed. When the vacuum cup 14 reaches the upper surface of the platform 5, the rack R will be held or restrained until the energy stored in the spring 7 forces the cup or its equivalent away from the surface 5, thereby, to release the rack R to jump upwardly, as would occur, for example, in ejecting the toast to a position where it can be removed from the casing.

I claim:

In a toy toaster, a base, a casing mounted on the base and including, a top wall having a pair of elongated slots, an end wall having a vertical slot; a pre-assembled simulated toaster unit in the casing and including a platform resting on the upper surface of the base, a single post extending upwardly from the platform, a simulated toast supporting rack disposed horizontally beneath the slots in the top wall of the casing, a guide bracket at one end of the rack and comprising an upturned vertical portion and an inwardly turned vertically spaced horizontal portion overlying the rack, said portions having registering openings for slidably engaging said single post, a handle projecting outwardly from the upturned vertical portion of the bracket and slidably guided in the slot of the end wall to prevent undue lateral swinging of the rack on the post in relation to the slots of the top wall of the casing, a coil spring on said post and confined between the rack and the platform, and vacuum cup means carried by the underside of the rack and adapted to be temporarily engaged with the upper surface of the platform when the rack by said handle is pushed down against the force of said spring, whereupon said cup will remain engaged until energy stored by the spring effects its release to cause the rack automatically to jump upward toward the top of the casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,497,205 Brewton Feb. 14, 1950 2,611,849 Gough Sept. 23, 1952 2,774,179 Zalkind Dec. 18, 1956 

